Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Kyushu University

History

The Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics was established in April, 1996 through several subsequent expansions from its predecessor, the Department of Applied Mechanics, founded in 1953. Our department offers advanced education and research opportunities that intend to deepen basic understanding of aeronautics and astronautics acquired during undergraduate study. We especially focus on training based on engineering-oriented thinking by application of mathematics and dynamics.

Features

The academic field of Aeronautics and Astronautics has three notable features; 1) comprehensive ability, 2) mathematics-oriented approach, and 3) appreciation of natural science and scientific methodology. In order to overcome extreme environmental conditions, it is necessary to completely master the scientific methodology related to this field. The methodology starts from formulating a hypothesis derived from results in natural science, and proceeds by discovering results by conducting an experiment, and then provides an interpretation or explanation of the results according to theories. In certain cases, more experiments are required to verify findings and proceed to make further predictions. In the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the faculty members belong to various academic fields, working with each other to train graduate students to acquire necessary qualities that they should have.